European stocks ending third quarter in the red: LONDON - European stocks slid on Friday, the last trading day o...

LONDON - European stocks slid on Friday, the last trading day of the third quarter, as markets doubted whether a boost to the eurozone bailout fund would provide the panacea to the bloc's debt crisis. The euro dropped against the dollar as official data showed a spike in eurozone inflation to 3.0 percent in September, while the region's unemployment rate was steady at 10 percent in August. Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou was due to hold talks with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday, one day after German lawmakers gave the faltering eurozone vital breathing space by agreeing to boost the bloc's bailout fund. France will be one of the key contributors to the expanded fund while its own banks are critically exposed to sovereign debt from Greece and other weak links in the eurozone chain -- Italy, Spain and Portugal. European stocks headed south on Friday a...